Not Forgotten
by Golden Wattle
Summary: Matthew feels he is forgotten because he isn't in any way special. Dan goes out of his way to prove that it isn't true. One-shot, fluff, Australia/Canada


**This is a little Can X Aus fluff piece I wrote. It is going to remain a one-shot, unless I find some inspiration. Enjoy.**

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**Not Forgotten**

Matthew reached up in the hope of grabbing the book on the top shelf that he wanted. He kept stretching in the hopes that somehow, by some miracle, he would grow a couple of inches taller. He strained and even tried jumping up and down a couple of times, but nothing worked. He was simply too short. He sat down and began to pout a little. _I really wanted that book_, he thought with a slight sigh. _Why did it have to be so high up?_ He got to his feet again, and came up with a less-than-clever idea. He grabbed onto the bookcase and stepped up onto the second shelf. Holding on with one hand, he reached up to grab the book, except a small groaning noise made him gasp. The bookcase was beginning to collapse. He couldn't move, frozen in fear. "Help! Help me please! Somebody!" he yelled, but was met by silence. Usually at this time the library was empty, and he, thinking he could study in peace, was completely alone. Or so he thought.

A couple of aisles away another nation was pondering the large collection of atlases when he heard the pleas for help. "Where are you?" he yelled, hoping to find the person. Being fairly new, he didn't know many people, so he figured a good study into the countries, especially where they were in the world, might be a good idea. "Art! I'm in art!" the voice yelled back desperately. "Please hurry! The bookcase is going to crush me!" The other nation began to search. _Art...Art... Where the bloody hell is art?_ He ran to the end of the aisle, and glanced around. He started running in the direction he had heard the voice from. He stopped when he spotted a blonde, clinging to a bookcase for dear life. He carefully walked over to him, fearful that if he frightened him he'd make the bookcase fall even faster. He summed up the situation fairly quickly, and was working on a way to free the other nation without too much risk. He walked up and stood behind the boy, making him jump a little, and had his arms either side of him in the hope it would prevent it tipping any further. He leaned in and whispered in the blonde's ear, "You need to relax. You aren't helping being all stressed like that". He used his hand to relax the blonde's grip on the bookcase. Matthew sighed, allowing himself to gently be pulled away. The stranger sat him against another bookcase, looking at him with concern. "Are you okay?"

Matthew looked up at the newcomer. "Yeah, I'm fine". He moved to stand, but was still shaky from the ordeal. The other nation held him down, and began to stroke his hair kindly.

"You shouldn't push yourself", he said with an accent Matthew did not recognize, but knew he had heard before. Matthew looked at him, focusing his eyes. The other man had a band-aid across the top of his nose, and two strands of hair that stood up in whichever direction it pleased, which happened to be up. He had thick eyebrows and green eyes, much like Arthur's. He knew who that person was. He was no stranger after all.

"Dan!" he exclaimed in recognition. It had been years since he saw the other nation. Dan grinned, having already recognized his voice from his yells for help, and he also knew as soon as he saw him on the bookcase.

"Hello Mattie", he said with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, curiously. Dan had never attended any important meetings for the simple reason his country was classified under the British Empire, and therefore represented by Arthur. "Oh, Australia's recognized as a nation now", he said with a grin. "Didn't you know?" He seemed so happy, pleased to be able to represent his home country. Dan lent down and placed a hand on his cheek, not intimately, but with the comfort of friendship. Mattie smiled, and continued to stare at him, making Dan feel quite uncomfortable. "So, what were you trying to get anyway?" Matthew pointed up.

"There's a book on different kinds of arts", he said. Dan looked at him curiously, and then stood up. "I wanted… to learn how to be creative. I mean, Italy has painting, France has music and I have nothing at all. Why can't I be more creative?" With the last sentence, he slammed his fists on the floor in a rage. Dan reached up and pulled out the book he figured Matthew had been trying to get, and handed it to him. He sat down beside him and watched as he opened the book, and flipped through the pages, muttering things like: "I'll never be able to do that" and "No way". Dan put an arm around his shoulders and leaned his head on top of Matthew's. "Why do you want to be creative so badly?" Matthew stopped his page flicking and sighed, leaning against Dan.

"I just want somebody to notice me for doing something amazing. I can't do anything", and threw the book down. "I can't do anything! I'm no good at cooking, art, music…"

"What about being you?" Dan enquired.

"How is that good? Being me? It sounds like something out of a fairy tale to make children believe they can be amazing by being unique", he said, sulking slightly. "But if that were true, why does everyone ignore me?" Dan clucked his tongue irritably. He stood up, grabbed Matthew's hand and pulled him up too. He led the other nation out of the library, even though he resisted as much as he could. They came upon France, striking a bunch of poses even though he wasn't having his picture taken. "France!" Dan yelled, causing said nation to shake out of his daydream.

"Ah, young Australia. How wonderful it is that you could join us here!" he said with as much gusto as possible. He waved his hands around, drawing as much attention to himself as humanly possible. "Yes, yes", Dan replied, waving it off slightly. "I've got to ask you something". France grinned, looking at Dan's hand that was intertwined with Matthew's.

"Ask away, my young friend". _Why does he insist on calling me young? _Dan wondered, slightly irritably. "Is it a mater of l' amour?" Dan stepped back, his expression slightly disgusted. "No, you ignorant twit. If I was gonna ask questions about that, I'd go to somebody who doesn't gossip like an old woman!" France stepped back, feeling like he'd been slapped, then quickly recovered. He leaned over towards Dan and asked, "Very well. What is your question?"

"Do you think Matthew is useless? Stupid?" he asked, the last part earning him a cool glare from said person. France thought for a moment. "No, he most certainly is not useless! Such beauty! Such talents!" _Okay, okay. We get the picture_, Dan thought, dragging Matthew away, leaving France to carry on in his speech.

The next person they came across was Arthur. They smiled and greeted each other briefly, before Dan turned to Arthur. "Do you think Matthew is useless?" Arthur was slightly startled by the question, but quickly recovered. "No, my boy. I don't think you're useless at all", he said, nodding his head. "You always know exactly what to say, and are always well behaved compared to certain others..." he added, looking purposefully at Dan. Dan stuck his tongue out. "Still going on about that, old man?" Arthur stood shocked as they walked past, eventually turning around to yell at their backs. "I'm not THAT old!" Dan snickered, still walking. "That was rude you know", Matthew murmured. Dan stopped in his tracks, and turned to face him. "I was just joking, you know," he said, raising an eyebrow slightly. Matthew sighed slightly. "Fine, I won't make any more jokes like that", Dan muttered in defeat. By the simple act of sighing, Matthew had essentially convinced him to stop acting on a natural part of his character, making fun of others. "Well, there's another thing you can add to your list of qualities", Dan said, sighing slightly. The Canadian looked at him confused. "You know, convincing people… me…to stop doing something…" Matthew pondered on this for a moment, then smiled.

They continued walking outside, where Alfred was in a heated debate with Kiku over who had the best weaponry. "Hey guys!" Dan yelled, causing the debate to stop abruptly. Alfred turned and grinned. "Hey Dan! Mattie!" They all walked together and met as a group. "What's up?" Dan grinned and responded with a "not much", before getting to the serious business. "Do you think Mattie is talent less and easy to ignore?" The other two looked surprised, then grinned. "Of course not! I wouldn't be able to ignore Mattie if I tried!" Alfred replied with a slight laugh. Kiku merely nodded in agreement.

"Thanks!" Dan said, leading Matthew away.

"I wonder what that was about?" Alfred asked, receiving no response. He turned to his current company and declared, "My nuclear warheads are bigger than yours!"

"Please grow up", Kiku said with a sigh, walking away.

"Hey! Don't ignore me when I'm picking a fight with you!"

Dan continued to lead him outside, until Matthew tugged his hand back. He turned. "What's wrong?" Matthew was looking at his shoes, smiling slightly. He looked up at Dan and smiled even wider. "You were right", he said, pulling his hand out of Dan's. "I feel so bad for making you drag me all this way to show me people notice me". He blushed slightly, embarrassed. Dan moved to disagree, but Matthew put up his hand to stop him abruptly. "Let me finish, please". Dan nodded and indicated that he should continue. "I thought no one noticed me, but maybe I wasn't the one who noticed. You noticed me, and helped me when I was in trouble". Once again, the Australian moved to protest, but, again, was denied. "I want to thank you for making me feel wanted. For noticing me. And for helping me", he finished, turning away slightly. Dan smiled, and stroked the other nation on the cheek gently with one hand.

"It makes me happy to know you're happy now", he said, leaning down to press his forehead to Matthew's. "If you ever feel unwanted or unnoticed, I want you to remember this feeling. I want to remember what all those people said about you, and if the feeling doesn't go away, I want you to come to me". Matthew looked at him curiously. They were so close he began to blush. "And I will do this again. Again and again until you get it. Until you understand how much you matter. To me, to everyone". The Canadian nodded his head, then burying it in the Australian's chest, wrapping his arms around Dan in a tight embrace.

"Why are you doing so much for me?" he asked, voice muffled.

"You idiot", Dan said, tenderly kissing the top of Matthew's head. "Didn't you hear what I said before? You mean a lot to me". Matthew blushed, and held on to Dan.

"You mean a lot to me too", he said. "I…" He never finished his sentence, his mouth being covered by Dan's in a sweet kiss. Dan began kissing Matthew's eyes, cheeks, forehead and the tip of his nose tenderly.

"I love you", he finally finished, blushing furiously.

"And I love you too", Dan replied, smiling.

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Another story with Australia in it!

Review please.


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